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San Marco(also Luigi Broglio Space Center, Italian Centro Spaziale Luigi Broglio) is an Italian naval spaceport. The first "cosmodrome on the water". Consisted of two converted oil platforms (San Marco and Santa Rita launch pad and MCC respectively) and two logistics support vessels. The spaceport was installed in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Kenya (Farmosa Bay), not far from the city of Malindi, at a point with coordinates 2.98˚S. and 40.3˚E Used to launch American Scout missiles. Was in operation from March to March 1988.
In 1962, between the American space agency NASA and the Italian Aerospace Research Center, an agreement was signed on the creation of the San Marco sea-based cosmodrome. A couple of months later, Kenya gave permission to place the object in its territorial waters. In December 1963, two converted platforms were delivered to the launch site. The first test launches by American Apache missiles took place in the spring of 1964. On April 26, 1967, the first orbital launch by a Scout rocket took place.
In 1988, the launches were stopped, the equipment was not dismantled, the platforms were mothballed.
The San Marco project was aimed at launching scientific satellites with Scout rockets from a floating mobile station located near the equator. This station, consisting of two oil platforms and two supply support boats, was to be installed off the coast of Kenya, near the city of Malindi.
The program included three phases:
- suborbital launches from Wallops Island and the equatorial platform,
- orbital launch of an experimental satellite from Wallops Island,
- orbital launches from the equatorial platform.
The first phase began with two Shotput rockets launched from Wallops Island in April and August 1963 to test the Italian satellite deployment. The first platform, Santa Rita, was towed from Italy to Kenya in the winter of 1963-1964. In the form of a triangle with a side length of 40 meters at a distance of 25 km from the coast, it was fixed on "legs" lying at a depth of 20 m. Preliminary tests took place in March and April 1964 with three launches of Nike Apache missiles. Then, on December 15, 1964, the San Marco 1 satellite was launched from Wallops Island.
The San Marco platform, with the equipment needed to assemble and launch Scout rockets, arrived in 1966. These 30 x 100 m rectangular structures were first used to launch the San Marco 2 satellite in April 1967.
The program did not stop with the launch of this first satellite. Three years later, Explorer 42, alias Uhuru, became the first American satellite to be launched by a foreign team. In total, 9 satellites were launched from the San Marco station (4 Italian, 4 American and 1 British), the last satellite was launched in 1988. But this place was also used to launch several sounding rockets for Italian and American experiments. So in February 1980 there was difficult period when seven missiles burned out.
Since 1988, the San Marco station is no longer in use, although the platforms were certified until 2014. The Scout missile has been decommissioned, moreover, ASI's plans are to use the Russian Start-1 launcher from 2002 onwards.
Year |
Total |
in detail |
| 1964 | 3 | 3 Nike Apache |
| 1967 | 1 | 1 Scout |
| 1970 | 1 | 1 Scout |
| 1971 | 3 | 2 Scouts, 1 Nike Tomahawk |
| 1972 | 7 | 1 Scout, 6 Nike Apache |
| 1971 | 1 | 1 Nike Tomahawk |
| 1974 | 2 | 2 scouts |
| 1975 | 1 | 1 Scout |
| 1980 | 7 | 2 Astrobee, 2 Black Brant VIII, 3 Super Arcas |
| 1988 | 1 | 1 Scout |
Based on materialshttp://www.univ-perp.fr/fuseurop/sanma_e.htm
On August 21, 2006, the Koreasat 5 satellite successfully entered geostationary orbit (113 degrees East) from Sea Launch
Lifting the launch vehicle "Zenith" to the vertical starting position
The payload bay with the PAS-9 satellite already loaded into it. Two months later, this satellite provided coverage from the 2000 Olympics in Australia.
Conversion of an oil platform into a floating spaceport
The launch customer and the manufacturer of the filling of the satellites was the Berlin Technical University Technischen Universitat Berlin. It was the first ever commercial space launch from a mobile (and also underwater) platform.
No matter how successful this experiment was, in itself it did not promise much hope for the future. Modern technologies allow sending only light vehicles weighing no more than 100 kg into space in this way. By the way, the second such launch was made recently, on May 26, 2006. Nuclear submarine "Yekaterinburg" sent into space (again from Barents Sea) 86-kilogram Russian research satellite "Compass-2". For multi-ton telecommunications satellites and space probes, much more powerful carriers are needed that will not fit in the launch shaft of a nuclear missile carrier. It is far better to mount a rocket launch pad on an artificial floating island, send this island to the equator and launch heavy spacecraft from there, adding to the maximum extent the centrifugal force of the Earth's rotation to the rocket thrust.
Italian predecessor
Of course, this idea is not new. Back in 1962, NASA and the Aerospace Research Center of the University of Rome agreed on a joint project for a floating spaceport in the Indian Ocean. Two oil platforms were rebuilt at Italian shipyards: one of them was supposed to serve as a launch pad, the other as a control center. By agreement with the Government of Kenya, they were moored near Cape Ras Ngomeni at a latitude of 2.50 south of the equator. The auxiliary platform "Santa Rita" was towed from Italy in 1964, and the launch platform "San Marco" in 1966. On April 26, 1967, the first spacecraft, the Italian scientific satellite San Marco B, designed to determine the density of the upper atmosphere, left it for near-Earth space.
Many scientific satellites were launched from the San Marco platform, in particular, the world's first orbital X-ray observatory Uhuru, to which astrophysics owes valuable discoveries. But still maximum weight of these devices did not exceed 200 kilograms. The fact is that this platform was originally adapted to launch American four-stage solid-propellant rockets of the Scout family, elegant composite "pencils" with a diameter of just over a meter and a length of 25-26 meters, for which such a load was the limit. "Scouts" were delivered by sea to the coast of Kenya without any special difficulties and reloaded to the launch platform, since neither their weight (from 18 to 21 tons) nor the dimensions created any special problems.
The last launch from San Marco took place on March 25, 1988. The platform could well work longer (it is certified until 2014), but the need for it has already disappeared. Launching light satellites into low orbits has become a common routine, and there is no need to keep a floating equatorial platform for this. The project for a more powerful Scout-2 carrier did not go beyond preliminary study, and in 1993 it had to be abandoned. The platforms "Santa Rita" and "San Marco" were mothballed, and the chances of their use for their intended purpose are very, very small.
But in the same year that the program for the creation of the second Scout family was buried, far-sighted people from the United States of America and Russia began to discuss plans for a new naval spaceport with immeasurably great opportunities than San Marco. From these consultations, the history of design, construction and operation of the unique floating complex "Sea Launch" (Sea Launch), created by the international corporation of the same name, begins. It can send devices weighing several tons into near-Earth space, and not to low altitudes, but to orbits with an apogee of tens of thousands of kilometers.
sea launch
Sea Launch Company (LLC) is an international commercial enterprise. Its co-owners are the American company Boeing Commercial Space Company (a subsidiary of Boeing Corporation), which owns 40% of the authorized capital), the Russian Rocket and Space Corporation Energia named after S.P. Koroleva (25%), the Norwegian shipbuilding company Kvaerner ASA (20%) and two Ukrainian aerospace enterprises - the production association Yuzhmashzavod (10%) and the Yuzhnoye design bureau named after M.K. Yangel (5% of the authorized capital). In the activities of Sea Launch, such famous Russian companies as the rocket giant "Design Bureau of Transport Engineering" and the creator of the Russian submarine fleet, the Central Design Bureau of Marine Engineering "Rubin" are also involved as contractors. Sea Launch is headquartered in Long Beach, California.
The jewel in the Sea Launch crown is the Odyssey self-propelled ocean platform. It was originally intended for drilling oil wells in the North Sea, but at the Rosenberg shipyard in the Norwegian city of Stavanger and on the slipways of the Kvarner-Vyborg-Wharf company on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, it was modified for space projects. On June 20, 1988, an extraordinary ship entered the Baltic under its own power, circled Europe, proceeded through the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal, and sailed through the Indian and Pacific Oceans to Long Beach.
"Odyssey" belongs to the class of semi-submersible ships. Of course, he does not swim under water - and beyond his strength, and not necessary. However, before each “working session”, the floating spaceport collects outboard water in special containers and settles in depth - for maximum stability during the launch of the rocket. At the same time, the draft increases very significantly, from 7.5 m to 21 m. After launch, the water is pumped out, and the platform again rises above the ocean surface on giant pontoon floats. On the move, the Odyssey weighs 30,000 tons, in a semi-submerged position - 50,600 tons. In addition to two displacements, the platform also has two lengths - 133 m, if you count by pontoons, and 78 m, if you measure the length of only one main deck. Diesel engines power the Odyssey at speeds up to 12 knots (22 km/h).
The Sea Launch flotilla also includes the Sea Launch Commander, an “assembly and command ship” (SCS). In December 1996, he left the stocks of the Govan shipyard in Glasgow and went for finishing at the Kanonersky shipyard in St. Petersburg. On June 12, 1998, he went to sea, crossed the Atlantic and proceeded through the Panama Canal to California. Its displacement is over 34,000 tons, length - 203 m, width - 32 m, working and living quarters for 240 people.
Road to space
To launch satellites, Sea Launch uses the Zenit-3SL rocket system. It consists of a two-stage Ukrainian Zenit-2S rocket, a DM-SL upper stage and a cargo block where the payload is located. The rocket can put into orbit with a large apogee up to six tons of cargo. It runs on kerosene and liquid oxygen, so if it pollutes the atmosphere, it only carbon dioxide. The launch weight of the rocket is 444 tons, the length is 43 m. The 19-ton upper stage of almost five meters in length was designed by Energia and manufactured at Russian factories.
The cargo compartment of the complex is the brainchild of an American partner, the Boeing Commercial Space Company. It is capable of carrying one or two spacecraft, in the first case its total length is 11 m, in the second - 16 m. The compartment fairing is made of a special carbon composite and provides reliable thermal protection.
All launches are carried out according to the standard scheme. “In the port of Long Beach, a fully assembled launch vehicle, along with an upper stage and a satellite in the cargo hold, is installed in vertical position on the launch pad of the Odyssey platform for the last check of all nodes and communication lines. Then the transporter takes her to the hangar, and the next day the Odyssey goes to the launch area, located in the Pacific Ocean near Christmas Island, and, unlike the position of the San Marco platform, exactly on the equator, 0 degrees latitude, 154 degrees west,” Robert Peckham, president of Sea Launch, tells Popular Mechanics. - After 3-4 days, the SCS Sea Launch Commander also goes there. They meet in the working area 5-6 days before the start, stand side by side and are connected by a drawbridge, through which you can go from one ship to another. After completing the procedure for installing the rocket on the launch pad, the bridge is removed, the ships move away from each other, and the remaining personnel are taken out by helicopter. About five hours before the launch, by the time the launch vehicle is refueled with fuel and oxidizer, not a single person remains on the platform, and all subsequent operations are carried out automatically using remote control. Well, then comes the moment of launch, after which the ships return to Long Beach, where they prepare for the start of a new mission.
The launch vehicle "Zenit-2S" does not accelerate the upper stages to the first space velocity, but takes them to a suborbital parabolic trajectory. To launch into space, additional acceleration is required, which creates an upper stage; its sustainer engine fires either once or twice and puts the cargo block into an intermediate orbit, the parameters of which are determined by the customer. There, the spacecraft undocks with the cargo block, turns on its own rocket engine and goes to the final orbit, where it begins to work. So far, the Sea Launch Corporation has launched exclusively communications satellites, although in principle it is capable of fulfilling other orders. The location of the Odyssey platform at zero latitude provides two obvious advantages. On the one hand, as already mentioned, it allows the maximum use of the Earth's rotation, on the other hand, it automatically ensures the launch of the launch vehicle on trajectories lying in the plane of the equator. It is in this plane that the circular geostationary orbits of artificial satellites lie (in this case, the satellite makes a complete revolution around the Earth during the day and constantly “hangs” over the same point on the earth's surface).
Robert Peckham also emphasized that Sea Launch Corporation has already won a strong position in the international space market and good reputation. “We have become one of the world's leading providers of commercial launches, so we have a great future ahead of us. All partners of our corporation worked well with each other and combined their knowledge and experience. I think that achieving such integration was the key task of the company, and its successful solution was our main success.”
To the question Where is the very first spaceport in the world located? When was it built? How many are there? given by the author Neurosis the best answer is The history of the world's first Baikonur cosmodrome began, as often happened in Soviet times, from the joint Decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR of February 12, 1955.
The construction of Baikonur was carried out quickly, and already in the spring of 1957, all the main elements of the infrastructure of the cosmodrome (now this part of it is called the "Center") were ready for operation. In just a year and a half, the launch complex was erected at Site No. 2, which later received the name Gagarin Start. Gradually expanding, Baikonur occupied an area of 6,717 km2. It includes the center, left and right flanks, as well as fall fields. This cosmodrome was and remains the only base that allows Russia to launch manned spacecraft and launch large spacecraft into orbit, such as the Mir orbital station. Approximately 40% of all spacecraft former USSR and Russia were launched from this cosmodrome, now owned by sovereign Kazakhstan. And yet, despite its "primogeniture", Baikonur is not the most active spaceport on our planet. Absolute world leadership by number space launches belongs to the Plesetsk cosmodrome.
International spaceports
Kourou (European spaceport)
San Marco (marine spaceport) - in 1967-1988.
Floating spaceport "Odyssey" of the project "Sea Launch" (English "Sea Launch")
Australia
Woomera
Argentina
Chamical
Brazil
alcantara
Bareiro do Inferno
Israel
Palmachim
India
Sriharikota
Iraq
Al Anbar
Italy
Salto di Quirra
Kazakhstan
Baikonur (leased by Russia)
China
Xichang
taiyuan
changchengze
Jiuquan
North Korea
Musudan
USA
Base Vandenberg
Kodiak
Kennedy Space Center
Cape Canaveral
white sands
Wallops (Witc Wallops Island Test Center - a test center on Wallops Island), pcs. Virginia
Russia
Plesetsk
Baikonur (located in Kazakhstan, leased by the Russian Space Agency)
Clear
Kapustin Yar
Free
France
Biscarros
Hammagir
South Africa
Overberg
Japan
Tanegashima
Utinora
link
Wallops, USA Virginia Coast, USA, since 1945
Kapustin Yar, Russia Near the city of Volgograd, since 1946
Woomera, UK South Australia, 1946-1976
Hammaguire, France Algeria, 1948-1967
Eastern Proving Ground, USA Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, since 1950
Baikonur, Russia Kazakhstan, Leninsk, since 1955
Answer from 22 answers[guru]
Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: Where is the very first spaceport in the world located? When was it built? How many are there?
Answer from Timur Shakirzyanov[guru]
The first spaceport is located 12 km south of Alabama, where Chuck Norris in 1937 launched a broken car into space with a roundhouse kick.
Answer from Yörgey[guru]
Stalin was still alive, this is 1953. - ours launched a couple of missiles from Baikonur, and the Americans then relied more on strategic aviation
The first marine spaceport San Marco, also known as Centro Spaziale Luigi Broglio in translation ( The Luigi Broglio Space Center was founded in 1964.
The history of the creation of the sea cosmodrome
In 1962, the HASA space agency and the Italian Aerospace Research Center (Rome) signed an agreement to establish the space-based San Marco spaceport. The goal of the San Marco program was to place an Italian satellite in orbit and create an equatorial launch pad for Scout rockets.
A couple of months later, Italy received permission from the Kenyan government to host such a "Marine Cosmodrome" off its coast. For the implementation of sea launches, it was decided to convert two oil platforms under the spaceport. One of them, San Marco, was converted into a launch pad, and the second, Santa Rita, into a launch control center. In December 1963, two converted platforms were delivered to the coast of Kenya near the city of Malindi. Two more logistics service vessels were attached to the platform to organize launch support.
The first launches took place in the spring of 1964 by American Apache rockets to test the system.
On April 26, 1967, the first orbital launch of the Scout rocket took place. In total, 27 launches are known from the San Marco spaceport from 1967 to 1988. In 1988, the platform was closed due to insufficient funding.
Launch vehicles used at the San Marco spaceport:
Chronology of launches from the San Marco spaceport:
- March 25, 30, 1964, 2 test launches with Apache missiles;
- April 2, 1964 Apache rocket test launch;
- April 26, 1967 10:06 AM Scout B S153C Satellite 2761. COSPAR: 1967-038A (success);
- December 12, 1970, 10:53 am, Scout B S175C rocket, satellite COSPAR: 1970-107A (successful);
- April 24, 1971, 07:32, Scout B S173C rocket, satellite COSPAR: 1971-036A (successful);
- November 15, 1971, 05:52, Scout B S163CR rocket, satellite COSPAR: 1971-096A (successful);
- November 17, 1971, Nike Tomahawk NASA103GA rocket, test launch;
- March 13, 1972, 4:00 pm, Apache launch vehicle, ISRC-PO-4 Aeronomy mission;
- March 14, 1972, 15:58, Apache launch vehicle, ISRC-PO-5 Aeronomy mission;
- March 15, 1972, 16:00, Apache launch vehicle, ISRC-PO-5 Aeronomy mission;
- March 15, 1972, 4:00 pm, Apache launch vehicle, ISRC-PO-6 Aeronomy mission;
- March 16, 1972, 15:43, Apache launch vehicle, ISRC-PO-7 Aeronomy mission;
- March 22, 1972, 08:22, Apache launch vehicle, ISRC-PO-9 Aeronomy mission;
- November 15, 1972, 10:13 pm, Scout D-1-F S170CR rocket, satellite COSPAR: 1972-091A (successful);
- November 28, 1972, Apache rocket, Ionosphere / aeronomy mission;
- July 30, 1973, 13:07, Tomahawk launch vehicle, Solar extreme ultraviolet mission;
- February 18, 1974, 10:05, Scout D-1-F S190C rocket, satellite COSPAR: 1974-009A (successful);
- October 15, 1974, 07:47, Scout B-1 S187C, satellite COSPAR: 1974-077A (successful);
- May 7, 1975, 10:45 pm, Scout F-1 S194C rocket, satellite COSPAR: 1975-037A (successful);
- February 15, 1980, 08:25, Super Arcas NASA 15.200UE launch vehicle, Plasma mission;
- March 25, 1988, 19:50, Scout G-1 S206C rocket, satellite COSPAR: 1988-026A (successful);